Originally Posted by GUWonder

My suggestions are cheaper and have often been as effective as hiring a lawyer when the issue can be fixed by hiring a lawyer.

Originally Posted by luv2fly1st

Here is an example of an interaction of an entry with CBP at the US POE at YYZ on January 17, 2014 when I was returning from a personal trip to India.

Waited in the GE line after getting my receipt. CBP agent took a long time (loooong time) to process the person in front of me. She was a very attractive young lady. I waited, 1,2,3,4 minutes while he was questioning (flirting) with her. when she left, I presented my GE receipt and passport Here is what happened next:

where are you coming from? india
business or pleasure? pleasure
any food or agricultural products? no
any alcohol tobacco? no
anyone traveling with you? no
how long were you away? 10 days
who did you visit? i went to see my mother in law
YOU WENT TO SEE YOUR MOTHER IN LAW WITHOUT YOUR WIFE? THIS INSPECTION IS OVER!

With that, he pushed the passport at me with such force that it fell off the counter, and when I picked it up, he had closed his station and was gone leaving me in limbo at his GE kiosk.

I was immediately surrounded by 2 CPB agents who repeatedly asked me in very loud tones "WHAT'S THE MATTER? WHAT'S THE MATTER". I replied "ask him" (the original agent) and began writing names down. A CBP supervisor arrived and the first thing he did was take my pen and paper away saying "This can be used as a weapon" and my list of names was gone. Supervisor asked me to leave the POE transit area and enter Canada first. I said "your agent refused me entry to the US and I have the right to enter the US". The CBP supervisor said "No you don't, we let you in as a courtesy, now get out of here" and escorted me to Canadian immigration. Canadian immigration were blown away with this story but let me into Canada without any issue.

I went out, and came back in, now entering the same POE from the Canadian side, versus the direct in-transit side and presented my passport to a female US CBP agent. The first thing she wanted to know was if I was recording the conversation. I was doing no such thing, showed her my phone which was switched off. She then got a call and picked up the phone. I looked up and saw the same CBP supervisor talking to her from another booth 15 feet away. She then took her stamp, changed the date and stamped an incorrect date on my US passport. When I asked her to stamp the correct date, she asked me to go to secondary to have it corrected.
I stated in very firm and polite terms that she needed to change her date stamp and re-stamp my passport with today's date. After a stare down, she did just that. I left and as I exited, the CBP supervisor came up to me and said "I hope you had a pleasant experience with our agents who are here to protect you".

This episode was reported to the CPB using their complaint form and resulted in a phone call apology from US CBP Port Director in Toronto. On February 4, I received a written apology from the Port Director as well. Sadly, I never got my pen back, the CBP supervisor kept it! Just another GE experience.

Originally Posted by Often1

An antacid is cheaper than a full cardiac workup in the case of chest pains. That is if it turns out that all you have is a little indigestion. Not so much if it turns out that you are in cardiac arrest.

Originally Posted by GUWonder

One step at a time won't lead to the demise of the OP and the future option of retaining a lawyer if the less expensive routes to resolve the issue don't work.

Originally Posted by jphripjah

The OP should hire a lawyer if the OP is arrested. Aside from that, there's very little a lawyer can do for him. He would just end up spending a lot of money, the lawyer would write a letter to CBP asking "Why do you keep sending my client to secondary inspection?" and CBP would respond "That's our business and we're not telling you."

Originally Posted by jphripjah

Have you recorded conversations with CBP before, or spoken about recording conversations? Have you made a lot of complaints about them? This is all rather bizarre.

Are you comfortable saying what your ethnicity and country of birth are?

I'm jus trying to get a complete picture here. right now I have no idea what's going on. Surely the January 17, 2014 inspection wasn't typical.

Originally Posted by MSPeconomist

I don't understand the employer's lack of concern about their laptop and phone, especially since it wouldn't be surprising for the work items to contain confidential or proprietary information. [This seems to be an employer that has strict rules about using their computer and phone for personal stuff if the OP was traveling with two laptops and two phones for a short trip.]

Originally Posted by BSBD

This, of course, is bypassed if the employee voluntarily divulges the security information, which is NOT supposed to happen.

Originally Posted by BSBD

OP, if you indeed work for Big Blue, you should not have provided your usernames/passwords to CBP without a warrant or clear direction from our Corporate Security to do so. You have a fiduciary duty to protect company- and customer-confidential information, and you failed. That is the most likely reason why you are not getting any help from Corporate on this. If I were your manager, you'd be in big trouble.

Originally Posted by BSBD

If you are a US citizen and are getting harassed as much as you say by CBP, you should contact your Congressman for assistance in getting this cleared up. Corporate isn't going to help you with that, because it's not a company issue. In fact, if you are a US-based employee who needs to travel internationally for work, you're likely to be released from employment if you have significant travel encumbrances, and can't get them resolved.

Originally Posted by jphripjah

Also what sort of questions do they ask you in secondary? Having been six times myself, I think the "basic" questions are what do you do for a living, what were you doing abroad, where did you go, how long were you gone, who did you meet with, etc.

Are they asking you really specific questions about specific incidents in your life or people you know, etc., suggesting they have more information about you then they have about other travelers?

Are the asking you a lot of questions about children, about Muslims, about whether you do drugs, anything like that?

Originally Posted by luv2fly1st

Hey. I ‘d like to see how well you stand up to 6 goons who surround you and give you no room to move in a show of force after a 12 hour overnight flight! I reported the incidents and asked the company for help, my 1st line, 2nd line, and their HR partner all told me that "It was company policy to comply with all government and LEO requests" I was instructed to give passwords if I was asked for them at the border.



Glad you are not my manager! I have scant regard for should’ve/would’ve/ could’ve people and O la la! and you failed me! Even teacher's are sometime wrong when they give an F ! 8 years of 2+ and 1 performance ratings proves otherwise


Doubting my US citizenship are we? I went to corporate for help a year ago. I did as I was instructed by corporate for future stops.

I appealed to this forum for help. Glad that there are folks who do just that. You certainly are not helping with 80% of your comments.

To GUWonder, Thanks and now to reply to jphripjah


All those questions are asked at passport control when I present passport and APC receipt
No to para 2 never been asked those Qs
No to para 3 never been ask those Qs either
In IAH 2ndary just says…we’ll try and get you out of here as fast as we can. Didn’t I see you last week?
I thought we sorted that out! Sadly not the same in LAX or EWR.
And I have never threatened to record / video them. Just my appearance appears to be a threat to them !

What do people have such a tough time believe that cops stop black people for tail light violations and wind up shooting them dead?
Guys ! This is a similar thing.
I have traveled for 60 years, and never had problems going anywhere except when I return to the US where I live and get to meet these CBP agents who have no courtesy or manners. Think of the resources wasted on me when we could be focusing on real threats

Originally Posted by luv2fly1st

Originally Posted by MSPeconomist

I don't understand the employer's lack of concern about their laptop and phone, especially since it wouldn't be surprising for the work items to contain confidential or proprietary information. [This seems to be an employer that has strict rules about using their computer and phone for personal stuff if the OP was traveling with two laptops and two phones for a short trip.]

Has the OP been able to work in the meantime? Did work supply a new laptop and phone or is the OP working from an office now? Does the OP still have his job and is he still being paid by the employer?